From CCM to New York City Opera

For several years Joshua Jeremian seemed to be onstage everywhere in Cincinnati. He was a regular in opera productions at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music, where he was pursuing a master’s degree and then an artist’s diploma (additional graduate-level training) as an opera singer. But he was glad to find performing opportunities with many Cincinnati perfroming arts institutions. In 2005 he played a pair of princes in Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati’s holiday musical, Sleeping Beauty. (In fact, the big-voiced baritone was nominated for a 2006 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for his performance at ETC.)

After a long hot summer (well, it's still feeling like a
long hot summer), we have a full array of shows onstage in Cincinnati
for you to choose among. I've seen two of them so far: Good People at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati and The Three Musketeers at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

ETC's production of Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire's 2011 piece (this is the regional premiere of Good People,
which was nominated for a Tony a year ago) about a woman who falls off
the bottom of the employment ladder has enough humor to be entertaining
(especially with Annie Fitzpatrick in the central role of Margie and
Kate Wilford and Deb Girdler as her gossipy friends and bingo-night
comrades) and enough contemporary relevance to be thought-provoking.
ETC's D. Lynn Meyers is at her best staging naturalistic shows with
social meaning, and that's exactly what this one offers. It has a great
cast and flexible, attractive scenic design by the ever-creative Brian
c. Mehring. I gave it a Critic's Pick. Through Sept. 23. Review here. Box office: 513-421-3555.

I wanted to love The Three Musketeers at the
Playhouse (through Sept. 29), but its balance of humor and heart is out
of whack to my tastes. There's lots of adventure, hilarity and laughter
— especially some no-holds-barred swordplay — but the show tries to
hard to entertain that it misses out on the true emotion that should lie
beneath. I suspect many people will love this thrill-a-minute tale of
political intrigue and valor, loyalty and royalty in 17th-century
France, and perhaps it will evolve to deeper feelings as it runs. I love
new Artistic Director Blake Robison's desire to put appealing,
family-friendly work onstage, and he's using this production to show
what he means. I hope his approach gets a tad more texture and depth as
his tenure continues. Review here. Box office: 513-421-3888.

I haven't yet seen To Kill a Mockingbird at
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and their publicity says it's already
sold out its first-two weekends. So you might want to put that one on
your calendar for sometime before it wraps up (Sept. 30). In the
meantime, you might want to head to Washington Park on Sunday evening at
7 p.m. for a special free presentation of CSC's touring production of The Tempest.
It's a perfect piece for outdoor performance, set on an island with a
sorcerer and his lovely daughter and some shipwrecked nobles who are
responsible for his exile. Audience participation will be a key
component of this event, with the audience asked to create large-scale
effects by blowing bubbles, making waves with silk and generating sound
effects. Sounds like great fun. Music (by The Young Heirlooms) begins at
6 p.m. This is a good one to bring kids to see.

Also off and running this weekend is Cincinnati Landmark's production of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
It's a classic drama of sexual tension and family strife, a bit heavier
fare than is usually found at the Covedale Center. It's a sign of the
company's ambition to be a full-fledged theater offering a wide range of
material. (Through Sept. 30.) Box office: 513-241-6550.

Joshua Steele will produce four collaborative shows in Covington next season

In case you haven’t been paying attention, the Carnegie
Center in Covington has been producing some ambitious theater and following a
course that others haven’t tried: It’s called collaboration. Joshua Steele, the
managing director of theater for the arts center in a one-time Carnegie
Library, has amplified his results by working with other arts institutions in
the region — especially, but not limited to, the fine theater programs at area
universities. Steele will announce his 2012-2013 this week, and it’s evident
that he’s continuing this commendable course working with Dayton’s Human Race
Theatre Company for the first time and building on a productive relationship
with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. He’s also engaged some top-notch
freelance talent to ensure that productions will be memorable.

Steele, who previously co-founded the meteoric New Stage
Collective with his friend Alan Patrick Kenny, is bringing the remarkable
director back to town for his first return since NSC closed in April 2010.
Kenny, who has been earning an M.F.A. in California and staging theater on the
West Coast, will direct the regional premiere of the musical Xanadu
(Aug. 11-26, 2012). This campy, tongue-in-cheek show, based on the 1980 move
that featured Olivia Newton-John, is right up Kenny’s inventive alley, and
should be a refreshing dash of onstage energy at summer’s end. (Auditions for
this show will take place on May 22, 7-10 p.m. at the Carnegie. Actors
interested in auditioning should contact Adrianne Eby, aeby@thecarnegie.com)

The Human Race collaboration will be next. The Dayton
company, which performs regularly at the Loft Theater in that city’s downtown,
is premiering a new play by Michael Slade, Under a Red Moon, in late October.
The production will then move to the Carnegie for a three-weekend run (Nov.
2-18, 2012). Set in 1949, it’s a taut psychological thriller telling the story
of John George Haigh, Britain’s infamous “Acid Bath Killer.”

For the third consecutive year, Steele has lined up a joint,
in-concert presentation of a well known musical with the Cincinnati Chamber
Orchestra. After successful outings with the CCO for Carousel and The King and I,
the late January 2013 production will be Camelot, the story of chivalry and
the love triangle of King Arthur, Queen Guenevere and the knight Sir Lancelot.
The lush Lerner and Loewe score will be conducted by the CCO’s music director
Mischa Santora onstage with musicians from the orchestra.

Steele wraps up his four-production season with Jason Robert
Brown’s powerful musical Parade(April 5-21, 2013), staged by
local director-choreographer team Ed Cohen and Dee Anne Bryll, who will be
joined by music director Steve Goers (currently appearing in the Carnegie’s
production of Pump Boys & Dinettes).
Set in Atlanta in 1913, it’s about the intolerance and misunderstanding
swirling around the trial of a Jewish factory manager accused of murdering a
young girl in his employ. Cohen and Bryll staged an excellent community theater
production of the show with Footlighters Inc. in 2007, winning that season’s
outstanding community theater award. They also staged the Huck Finn musical Big River for the Carnegie with great
results in 2010.

It’s a great line-up, and I suspect audiences will be lining
up in Covington for these productions.

I spent two-and-a-half hours watching the Acclaim Awards last night — 150 minutes with no intermission. Thanks to affable hosts Charlie Clarke and Mark Hardy (the well-dressed “scoundrels” of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels last September at The Carnegie), there was a lot of humor, but I put an emphasis on “a lot” as in “maybe too much.”

As I’ve written previously, the Acclaims offer some solid recognition of many of the things that constitute our local theater scene. But the awards program itself lacks discipline: If this had been a stage production at one of our local theaters, I wouldn't be the only critic saying, “Nice work, but it needs a lot of trimming.” And some thoughtfulness.

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company presents seventh annual summer series

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company continues its summer
tradition of Shakespeare in the Park as the free series returns for the seventh
year this August. Romeo and Juliet and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be
showcased in parks around the Greater Cincinnati area and Northern Kentucky
Aug. 3-30.

CSC Ensemble Member Nicholas Rose is directing the classic
lovers tale, Romeo and Juliet. While
the fantastic story of betrayal and magic in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is being directed by CSC Education
Associate Miranda McGee. Six actors from the CSC Resident Ensemble will be
acting in these performances. After the free park tour, they will continue to
tour community centers, schools, venues and other performance centers into May
of 2014.

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is continuing its partnership
with Cincinnati Parks and Recreation, offering free shows at Seasongood
Pavilion in Eden Park, Burnet Woods, Mt. Echo Park and the new Smale Riverfront
Park. Washington Park will see the group on their tour, alongside parks in
Madeira, Colerain and Monroe in Ohio, and Burlington, Edgewood and Maysville in
Kentucky. The acting troupe will have two performances at the Vinoklet Winery
as well. Certain park locations will be accepting canned food and
non-perishable items — CSC has a partnership with the Freestore Foodbank.

If a free, al fresco viewing of Shakespeare’s best sounds
fun, then make sure to get to each performance early to ensure good seating.
All shows are general admission with first-come, first-serve seating. For more
information go to cincyshakes.com.

It could be argued that F. Paul Rutledge was the guy who laid the foundation. He passed away a week ago at the age of 91. Rutledge was a theater pioneer in Cincinnati, and many people who shaped what we have today were inspired by him.

Jason Bruffy will leave his position as artistic director of Know Theatre of Cincinnati on Sept. 4 to lead the Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC) in Utah.

He became Know's artistic leader in 2004 and oversaw the company's 2006 move from a church basement in Over-the-Rhine to a remodeled, two-story building on Jackson Street in another part of the neighborhood that has become a focal point for Cincinnati's performing arts scene. His departure coincides with that of Know founder, Jay Kalagayan, who announced earlier in the summer his intention to relinquish his responsibilities as the 11-year-old company's development director. Managing Director Eric Vosmeier will be Know's interim leader while a search is conducted for Know's next artistic director.

At last evening’s finale party for the 2009 Cincy Fringe Festival, three “Pick of the Fringe” awards were presented:

The Audience Pick, voted by theatergoers, went to Gravesongs (pictured), Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati’s intern showcase, a piece by local playwright Sarah Underwood written for the five actresses who spent this season at ETC (Rachel Christianson, Emily Eaton, Lauren Shiveley, Rebecca Whatley and Elizabeth L. Worley). It was directed by another ETC intern, Elizabeth Maxwell. The script is about death from the perspective of women in their early twenties.

For the ninth time during Ed Stern’s tenure at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, a show by Stephen Sondheim will be presented. Stern, the Playhouse’ Producing Artistic Director, has a soft spot for the great American composer and lyricist who turned 80 a year ago. He will bring back Tony Award-winning director John Doyle (pictured) to stage Merrily We Roll Along in a production that uses actors who also provide the musical accompaniment. The show will be presented next year in March.

I wish I could point you to a good production of a Shakespearean play today, since it's the Bard's 446th birthday. But Cincy Shakes is presenting Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband in a delightfully enacted production that ranges from witty humor to heartfelt emotion. It's definitely worth seeing.